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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

CANNES, France (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. economy is growing "way too slow" but that leaders at a world summit have made progress at getting their countries on a firmer footing.
"Put simply, the world faces challenges that put our economic recovery at risk," Obama said in a news conference at the meeting of the 20 major developed and emerging economies as he promoted a jobs theme central to his re-election campaign.

NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T says the deal to buy T-Mobile USA may take until the middle of next year to close, three months later than originally envisioned, as it fights antitrust regulators.
AT&T announced the $39 billion acquisition in March, saying it hoped to complete it in a year.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Environmental regulators want DuPont to submit plans for determining whether seepage and runoff from the site of a former zinc-smelting plant in north-central West Virginia are contaminating groundwater or streams.
A resident who lives near the former smelter in Spelter went to the state Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year with concerns about both new seeps she spotted at the site and surface drainage ditches that go into Simpson Creek.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany automaker BMW AG said net profit rose 23.8 percent in the third quarter on stronger sales of newer models such as its 5-series sedan and compact 1-series. But it warned about the impact of Europe's sovereign debt crisis on growth in coming quarters.
The company's results were slightly higher than analyst expectations and it reaffirmed its profit target for the year.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Executives from New York-based Agro Farma have picked Twin Falls as the home for a new western manufacturing plant for its Chobani yogurt.
Company officials joined state and local leaders Thursday to announce plans to build a $100 million production facility and add 400 jobs to the local economy, the Times-News reported (http://bit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cyberattacks by Chinese and Russian intelligence services, as well corporate hackers in those countries, have swallowed up large amounts of high-tech American research and development data, and that stolen information has helped build their economies, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded.

WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's once robust auto industry is making a comeback, with more good news Thursday: General Motors Co. will add pickup trucks to its line of products made in Wentzville, creating more than 1,200 new jobs.
The announcement by GM Vice President of Labor Relations Cathy Clegg came two weeks after Ford announced it was adding 1,600 jobs to build transit vans at its Claycomo plant in Kansas City.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy added 80,000 jobs in October, and job growth in the two previous months was much stronger than first thought, an encouraging sign as the nation searches for a way out of the jobs crisis.
The unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent from 9.1 percent, the first time it has fallen since July, the government said Friday.

DOVER, Ohio (AP) — A leak of vapor at a chemical plant in eastern Ohio has sent three workers to the hospital and led authorities to restrict traffic in the area.
Fire Chief Russ Volkert in Dover tells The Times-Reporter (http://bit.ly/rPetmk ) the public was never in danger from Thursday evening's incident at Dover Chemical Corp.

DETROIT (AP) — We saw the USA in them. We drove them to the levee. We even worked on our night moves in their back seats.
For a century, Chevrolets won America's love with their safety, convenience, style and speed — even if sometimes they were clunky, or had problems with rust or their rear suspensions.

COLUMBUS, Wis. (AP) — A small Wisconsin manufacturer of metal birdhouses has been cited for 22 alleged safety violations.
A federal workplace agency says Gardner Equipment Co. failed to take adequate steps to ensure its employees' safety.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it found 22 violations at the company's Columbus and Juneau facilities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Wednesday evening that Sprint Nextel Corp. and a regional cell phone company can sue AT&T Inc. over its acquisition of rival T-Mobile USA.
AT&T had asked U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle to dismiss the case because Sprint and Ridgeland, Miss.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. workers increased their productivity this summer by the largest amount in a year and half, and they cost their employers less. The trend is good for corporate profits but not necessarily for job growth.
The Labor Department says productivity rose at an annual rate of 3.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Tesla Motors Inc. said its net loss widened as it more than doubled spending on research and development.
The loss was $65.1 million, or 63 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. During the same period a year ago it lost $34.9 million, or 38 cents per share.

The shrinking order book of an aircraft leasing company in the United Arab Emirates snagged Boeing's new 747-8 on Thursday.
Boeing Co. confirmed that Dubai Aerospace Enterprise is canceling orders for five 747-8 freighters, converting the orders to Boeing 777s instead.
In August 2010 the company canceled orders for 25 Boeing planes, including 15 787s.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An international maker of highway safety products is opening in Barnwell County, creating 25 jobs over two years in a building that once employed more than 300.
Sasco Safety announced Tuesday plans to move its manufacturing plant from Alexandria, Egypt, to Barnwell.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Most of the companies that either suspended or reduced their 401(k) matches during the economic downturn have reinstated them, business consultant Towers Watson said in a study released Wednesday.
An analysis of 260 mid- to large-sized companies shows that 75 percent of those that took the step to cut costs have restored their match.

NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (Kyodo) — New car sales in the United States in October increased 7.5 percent from a year earlier, but Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales continued to suffer in the aftermath of the March disaster, according to data released Tuesday by a U.S. research firm.
Toyota saw its sales fall 7.

NEW YORK (AP) — A fire over the summer at a New York City sewage treatment plant may have been caused by a loose nut.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection released its findings in report on Tuesday.
The report says the cause of the four-alarm fire at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem cannot be determined with certainty, but says a nut connected to a fuel injector had been tightened improperly.